Boom from 2010 oil spill could help local firefighters

Absorbent boom deployed near an oil sheen near Wolf Bay in July 2010. Baldwin County still has about 65,000 feet of boom in storage. (File photo)

BAY MINETTE, Alabama -- Boom intended to protect Baldwin County shores from the 2010 oil spill could be going to fire departments and other emergency units.

The Baldwin County Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a proposal to give some of leftover boom to local first responders. Since 2010, the county has had about 65,000 feet of absorbent material stored at the Magnolia Landfill in Summerdale.

The boom was placed at the landfill in case more oil from the spill threatened the Baldwin County shoreline, but was never used.

Two years later, the county needs the storage space for other items and the boom, which is designed to absorb oil or other spilled liquids cannot be stored outside, Mitchell Sims, Emergency Management Agency director, said.

"It occurred to me that some of the first responders in the county could benefit from the boom," Sims told commissioners. "It could be used to contain oil spills, gasoline spills or anything like that."

Cal Markert, county engineer, said the Highway Department could use about 20 pallets of the boom. He said the oil boom is not designed for erosion control at construction site, but could be put to that or other uses rather than buying more material.

A pallet holds 500 to 600 feet of boom, according to county officials.

Sims said officials with three volunteer fire departments have told him they would take some boom if the material became available and other departments have also expressed an interest.

"I haven’t aggressively gone after this until I got your blessing," Sims told commissioners at Tuesday’s work session.

Commissioners said they supported putting the boom to public use if the county had no use for the material.

Commissioner Frank Burt said the commission has a $1,000 limit on cash donations to volunteer departments, but if the boom did not fall under that restriction, he supported the proposal.

"I think it’s a great idea," Burt said.

Commissioner Charles "Skip" Gruber said county officials attempted to sell some of the absorbent boom on websites offering government surplus items and did not get bids, so the material has little resale value. He said money provided by BP was used to buy the boom.

"It was given to use," he said. "The boom does work fairly decent for the Highway Department and I’d hate to just get rid of it if anybody’s got a use for it."

County officials said that when stored inside, the boom lasts for about five years before starting to break down. The material is now about two years old.